Fukugi (Polyscias) cultivation methods and precautions
Watering
Potted Polyscias plants prefer relatively moist soil and air conditions. During the growing season, they need a sufficient water supply, watered once every 1 to 2 days.
Adjust according to specific conditions: water thoroughly when the soil has dried out; slightly dry soil is also fine, but do not water too frequently, to avoid waterlogging and root rot.
Soil
Polyscias plants prefer loose, fertile, well-drained sandy loam. Generally, repot the soil once every two years in spring; when changing the soil, use peat soil mixed with one-third river sand.
Light
Polyscias plants are suited to growing in environments with partial light and bright, indirect light. They need bright light but also dislike intense direct sun exposure, especially in early summer after a long rainy spell followed by clearing skies, when leaves must be protected from scorching.
Fertilizing
The growth of Polyscias requires a sufficient supply of fertilizer.
During the vigorous growth period from April to June, fertilize once every one to two months. For home potted plants, a mixed solution of 0.2% urea and 0.1% monopotassium phosphate can be applied, or a small amount of multi-element slow-release compound fertilizer granules can be scattered on or buried in the surface of the potting soil.
Polyscias care methods
Polyscias is very easy to grow; it can grow outdoors in full sun or even indoors with no natural light at all, only fluorescent lamps. However, it is actually quite sensitive to environmental changes. When it has just moved, it has not yet adapted to the new environment, so it tends to drop leaves heavily. Once the leaves of the Ming aralia (Polyscias fruticosa) are about to fall, they either drop whole from the main stem, or turn yellow one small piece at a time before falling. Once yellowed, they cannot recover. With sufficient water and nutrients, it will grow vigorously and quickly. However, watering every day is too much; the roots of Ming aralia can adapt to dryness but are very afraid of being soaked, and if watered too wet, they rot easily.
Below we take the round-leaf Polyscias (Polyscias scutellaria) as an example to look at the specific care methods for Polyscias.
1. Light
It needs bright light. Insufficient light easily causes leggy stems and leaves, dull leaves, and fading patterns, but it also dislikes intense direct sun exposure, especially in early summer after a long rainy spell followed by clearing skies, when leaves must be protected from scorching. For home potted plants, it can usually be placed in a well-ventilated spot near a south-facing window or opening; in summer it can be placed in front of a north- or east-facing window; in winter it should be placed in a brighter spot indoors.
2. Temperature
The optimum growing temperature is 15-30°C, of which from April to October it can be kept at 20-30°C, and from October to the following April at 13-20°C. In short, in winter the room temperature should also be maintained no lower than 10°C. When the summer temperature reaches above 32°C, it also cannot be left to itself.
3. Moisture
Potted Polyscias plants prefer relatively moist soil and air conditions. During the growing season, they need a sufficient water supply; water after the surface of the potting soil has dried, and slightly dry soil is also fine, but do not water too much, to avoid waterlogging and root rot. In the height of summer when temperatures are higher, besides watering sufficiently, mist the leaf surface once a day, which both keeps the leaves clean and glossy and raises the humidity of the air around the plant. In late autumn and early winter, when the temperature drops below 15°C, watering should be controlled. In winter, reduce the amount of water, or replace watering with misting, keeping the potting soil slightly moist and a little dry, but when spraying the leaf surface, make sure the water temperature is basically the same as the room temperature.
4. Soil
Loose, fertile, well-drained sandy loam is best, providing it with a loose, moist, fertile soil environment. Generally, change the soil once every two years in spring. As for fertilizing, for home potted plants a mixed solution of 0.2% urea and 0.1% monopotassium phosphate can be applied, or a small amount of multi-element slow-release compound fertilizer granules can be scattered on or buried in the surface of the potting soil. When fertilizing, pay attention to the balance of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. If disease occurs, promptly remove and destroy diseased leaves.
Polyscias cultivation methods
Round-leaf Polyscias, also known as round-leaf Ming aralia or round-leaf Polyscias, is an evergreen shrub or small tree of the Araliaceae family and the genus Polyscias, with a plant height of 1-3 m. The plant is much branched, with slender lateral branches, prominent lenticels on the branches, and grayish-brown stems densely covered with lenticels. The branches are soft, the leaves alternate, odd-pinnate compound leaves, with 3-4 pairs of leaflets, opposite, elliptical or long-elliptical, with a heart-shaped base and finely serrated edges; the leaves are often green with white spots. The inflorescence is an umbel, with small, pale white-green flowers. Round-leaf Polyscias has upright stems and bright, changeable leaves, and is a relatively popular foliage plant in recent years. It is both stylish and elegant, and natural and fresh, suitable for courtyard beautification or potting.Round-leaf Polyscias is native to the Pacific Islands. It likes a warm, humid environment with plenty of sunlight, tolerates partial shade, is not cold-tolerant, and fears drought. At home it can be kept for a long time in a bright indoor spot; if it can see several hours of sunlight indoors each day, it will grow even more vigorously.
In summer, be careful to avoid direct outdoor strong sunlight. During the growing season, keep the potting soil moist but not waterlogged, and frequently spray the plant with water close to room temperature to increase air humidity and keep the leaf color fresh. Apply a special fertilizer for foliage plants or a diluted, fully decomposed liquid fertilizer about once every 2 weeks. If it is a variegated variety, be careful that the nitrogen content in the fertilizer solution is not too high, so as to avoid the patterns on the leaves fading or even disappearing. Stop fertilizing after September, so that the new branches mature and become woody, which helps it overwinter.
In winter, place it in a sunny spot indoors, appropriately reduce watering, and maintain the temperature above 12°C, otherwise excessively low temperatures will cause a large number of leaves to drop, or even kill the plant. Repot once every 2 to 3 years. The potting soil should be loose, fertile, rich in humus, and have good drainage and air permeability. Leaf mold or peat soil with 1/3 river sand can be used, mixed with a small amount of fully decomposed chicken or cow manure as a base fertilizer.
For propagation of round-leaf Polyscias, 1- to 2-year-old branches can be cut for cuttings. The cultivation medium is not strict in selection, but drainage must be good. It can be done in both spring and autumn, but spring cuttings give better results. Between March and April, cut 10-15 cm sections of stem, keeping only 2-3 leaves at the tip, with the lower cut preferably located 0.2 cm below a node, and soak in 500 ppm indolebutyric acid or No. 1 ABT rooting solution for 10 seconds, then insert into a sand bed or vermiculite.
For small-scale cuttings, a wide-mouthed flower pot filled with vermiculite can serve as the cutting bed. After watering thoroughly, cover with plastic film to retain moisture, maintain the optimum rooting temperature of 25-30°C, and provide 40-50% shading; roots will form in 20-30 days. After the cuttings sprout new shoots, transplant them into pots. Between May and June, choose a robust stem, perform ring barking 20-25 cm from its top, with the bark removal width about 2-3 times the stem diameter, wrap the ring-barked area with peat soil or mud, shape it into a ball of soil, bind it tightly on the outside with plastic film, and leave a water-collection opening at the top. If the stem is relatively thin and cannot support the soil ball, insert a bamboo pole as support, tie the soil ball against the bamboo pole, and always keep the soil ball moist; roots will form after 2 months. You can also buy lignified stems specially sold for cuttings at the flower market and use them for cuttings; they also root easily.
Clustered plants grown in the ground can also be propagated by layering. It likes high-temperature environments and is not very cold-tolerant; it requires bright light but is also fairly shade-tolerant, and dislikes direct sun exposure; it likes moisture and is also fairly drought-tolerant, but dislikes waterlogging. Its optimum growing temperature is 15-30°C, of which from April to October it can be kept at 20-30°C, and from October to the following April at 13-20°C. Beautiful plants are usually a bit delicate, and Polyscias is the same. Its variegated varieties are less cold-resistant. In general, even for ordinary pure green-leaf varieties, the room temperature in winter should be maintained no lower than 10°C.
When the summer temperature reaches above 32°C, it also cannot be left to itself. For mass production, build a shade shed; for home display, place it in a cool spot and spray water around it to lower the temperature, creating a cool micro-environment relatively close to its native conditions. In late autumn and early winter, when the temperature drops to 15°C, promptly move it indoors to prevent the plant from suffering cold damage. In winter, if the room temperature can be maintained above 20°C, its stems and leaves will continue to grow; if the temperature is not high, the plant stops growing and enters a semi-dormant state.
Polyscias is very easy to grow; it can grow outdoors in full sun or even indoors with no natural light at all, only fluorescent lamps. However, it is actually quite sensitive to environmental changes. When it has just moved, it has not yet adapted to the new environment, so it tends to drop leaves heavily. Once the leaves of the Ming aralia (Polyscias fruticosa) are about to fall, they either drop whole from the main stem, or turn yellow one small piece at a time before falling. Once yellowed, they cannot recover.
With sufficient water and nutrients, it will grow vigorously and quickly. However, watering every day is too much; the roots of Ming aralia can adapt to dryness but are very afraid of being soaked. At most, dryness causes leaf drop and slow growth; watering too wet makes it rot easily, and then it is very hard to save.
For home potted plants, a mixed solution of 0.2% urea and 0.1% monopotassium phosphate can be applied, or a small amount of multi-element slow-release compound fertilizer granules can be scattered on or buried in the surface of the potting soil. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, stop applying nitrogen fertilizer and apply 1-2 additional applications of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer to increase the plant's cold resistance and help it overwinter smoothly. After winter begins, the plant has stopped growing, so stop fertilizing to avoid damaging the roots.